What to Do with Donuts

You all know I work as an editor, right? The nature of the job is "hurry up and wait." Last week, this week, and next I was, am, and will be in "hurry up" mode. For about the entire month of January I was in "wait" mode and while at work wrote some great essays for my blogs (see www.OurNationsTreasures.blogspot.com about Redwoods National Park. I wrote that at work one day.) So until things ease up at work, I'll post essays from years past. The following one is from the column I wrote last year. Maybe you'll get some ideas.


What to Do with Donuts

At work you receive a memo announcing a meeting Wednesday morning. The last line of the memo reads, “Breakfast will be provided.” You are happy with that since you know eating breakfast is a healthy habit and your first step to weight loss. (See Breakfast Boon [previous blog entry] for a list of benefits from eating breakfast.) Eating at work will allow you to sleep in a little the morning of the meeting.

Wednesday morning you sashay into the conference room, all bright eyed and perky, thanks to the extra 10 minutes of shut-eye. When you see the box of donuts—what’s supposed to pass for breakfast. You deflate.

You resist temptation and take a seat at the end of the conference table, as far away as possible from the sweet, sinful pastries lying wait in the center.

Then what happens?

After an hour of PowerPoint presentations, overhead slides and endless discussion, you…

Scenario 1
…are so hungry you can’t concentrate, so you get up and politely reach between Terry and Susan and grab a napkin and a custard filled, chocolate-iced piece of heaven, which you take back to your end-of-the-table seat. Turns out you eat the sweet so quickly, without ever setting it down, you didn’t need the napkin after all. Well, maybe to dry your fingers after you licked them clean.

Scenario 2
…take a long drink of water trying to quiet your stomach. You’re so hungry and it’s growling so loudly, that it’s nearly disrupting the meeting. When the meeting lets out, you plan to take your lunch break early and go to McDonalds and get an egg mcmuffin if they’re still serving breakfast, or a chicken or fish sandwich if they’ve switched to the lunch menu. You’ll pick up a salad to take back to the office for an afternoon snack because you know eating lunch so early will inevitably leave you hungry in the early afternoon.

While planning what and when to eat, you missed the last five minutes of what Bill was saying. You hope he doesn’t ask for your opinion. You’re so hungry.

Scenario 3
…excuse yourself and go get the apple you packed.

Scenario 3 is the healthiest answer.

Scenario 1 happens to all of us at one point or another. Hopefully you have packed a healthy lunch and snacks and can cut back on your calorie intake at dinner too so that the fat and calories from the donut you scarfed in the meeting won’t bear ill effects and you won’t feel guilty. Instead of the custard filled pastry, a cake donut—or anything not filled with something else—is a healthier choice.

Scenario 2 is OK too. We should all try drinking water first when hunger pangs hit, instead of going straight for food because we may be thirsty—not hungry at all. But denying yourself a morning meal, even if it’s a donut, leads to big calories later, like the egg mcmuffin you planned to eat if you got to McDonalds in time for breakfast, or the fried fish or chicken sandwich you’d have if the restaurant had switched to its lunch menu.

So that you won’t make any food decisions “willy-nilly,” packing is always the best option. Again, packing your lunch and healthy snacks—yogurt, string cheese and wheat crackers, a piece of fruit with nuts—is always the best option.

Another good option is asking the organizer of the meetings to provide fruit, yogurt, and whole wheat bagels for breakfast at future meetings. A satisfied, well-fed workforce is better than a trans-fats filled one, functioning on a sugar buzz.